Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Prayer Can Be Dynamic
His gnarled fingers clung tightly to the dilapidated, leather-bound book from which he had been reading aloud. With blurred vision he watched a tear splash onto the yellowed parchment. He realized he was fumbling nervously with the book from which his great grandfather had read his prayers. How ironic, because “fumbling” so well described his efforts to connect with God, of late. How could someone as advanced in age as he feel so ignorant about God? He was startled by his own voice as questions escaped through His trembling lips, “God are you there? Can you hear me? Why can’t I seem to find you?”
Since his recent illness and subsequent retirement, he often found himself sitting alone in his room weeping, searching for God and for meaning to a life that was well nigh spent. “How does one pray?” he often wondered. Then in an effort to arrest God’s attention he would open the book which he now held in His hands and read prayers that strangers had committed to paper in ancient times. Admittedly, the prayers were proper and eloquent, but these times of weeping and reading left his heart aching still. He had so many questions about praying: “What do I say? Should I fold my hands? Should I stand or sit? How should I address God? Does God let just anyone talk to Him? Is He trying to talk to me?”
Unfortunately his life as a husband, father and professor had been extremely busy, leaving little time for attention to God or the Bible in his adult years, but stories told to him a half-century ago in a small Sunday School class raced back through his mind. He could recall tales of great men like Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Elijah, Peter & Paul. He seemed to remember them praying, but not from a book of scripted prayers. If his memory served him correctly, they talked to God almost as if He were a real person. And, oh, the wonderful things that happened as a result of those men’s prayers.
This powerful passion to connect with God had recently been overwhelming enough that he had sheepishly asked friends and acquaintances what they thought about prayer. The answers he got were varied and confusing. Some insisted that prayer should be silent while others argued that praying out loud was more effectual. He was assured by one man that prayers were simply to be spoken out of duty and, by another, that repetition was the key to satisfaction in prayer. Well-meaning Christians advised him to pray in faith, pray in the Spirit, speak to mountains, and intercede. The maze was endless!
As another wave of emotion flooded his soul, he heard himself blubbering “God I just want to feel connected to you. How do I do that? Should I hum, or chant, or repeat sacred phrases? Is prayer an incantation, a ritual, or a mandatory duty?” Suddenly he sensed something very special – like the chill that swept over him whenever the flag passed by. As he wiped the tears from his eyes it dawned on him that he had a deep sense of warmth and peace. It was almost as if someone was in the room with him and was speaking to him. It wasn’t an audible sound; it was more like a loud thought. One word was ringing in his mind. It was all he could think about for a few minutes. Over and over in his mind it tumbled: “dynamic.. dynamic..dynamic.” Was God trying to say something?
Being an educator it was only natural that he should reference the nearest dictionary. As he typed out the online query and pressed “enter” he pondered, “What in the world could the word “dynamic” have to do with prayer?” The screen flickered and his eyes scanned the following entry:
dy·nam·ic (d -n m k) adj.
1. Of or relating to energy or to objects in motion.
2. Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress.
3. Marked by intensity and vigor; forceful.
4. Of or relating to variation of intensity, as in musical sound. (Dictionary.com)
There it was! Prayer is not to be a ritual or a somber reading of scripted verses penned by the monks of yesteryear. Prayer should be a lively, energetic, conversation with our Maker. It should be moving, intense, and vigorous. It should be a continuously changing interaction with our Heavenly Father that varies in intensity and purpose; an adventure. Prayer should be our daily staff meeting with the God who has promised to order our steps, provide for our daily needs, and make a path for us in the wilderness.
Dare he hope for such a possibility? Could this new understanding be the start of a new excursion into God’s world? Was he about to step into corridors and conversations that would lead him to a prayer life of immeasurable expanse and variety? I certainly hope so, because no other endeavor is so powerful, so life-changing, and so fulfilling. Nobody lives a life more exciting than the life of a prayer warrior. Perhaps you can relate to the man in this story. Or maybe you have embarked on a journey of prayer and have experienced the dynamics of communicating with your Creator and Savior, but are not quite sure where to go from here. Many faithful prayer warriors encounter seasons in their prayer life when they run out of things to say, lose the motivation to pray, get stuck in a prayer rut, or sense that God is wanting to take their prayer time to a more dynamic level. How’s your prayer life? Maybe God wants to take you to a whole new dimension. Just follow your hunger.
This article has become the first chapter of the book Passageways of Prayer which can be purchased at "Inspirations" bookstore.
Since his recent illness and subsequent retirement, he often found himself sitting alone in his room weeping, searching for God and for meaning to a life that was well nigh spent. “How does one pray?” he often wondered. Then in an effort to arrest God’s attention he would open the book which he now held in His hands and read prayers that strangers had committed to paper in ancient times. Admittedly, the prayers were proper and eloquent, but these times of weeping and reading left his heart aching still. He had so many questions about praying: “What do I say? Should I fold my hands? Should I stand or sit? How should I address God? Does God let just anyone talk to Him? Is He trying to talk to me?”
Unfortunately his life as a husband, father and professor had been extremely busy, leaving little time for attention to God or the Bible in his adult years, but stories told to him a half-century ago in a small Sunday School class raced back through his mind. He could recall tales of great men like Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Elijah, Peter & Paul. He seemed to remember them praying, but not from a book of scripted prayers. If his memory served him correctly, they talked to God almost as if He were a real person. And, oh, the wonderful things that happened as a result of those men’s prayers.
This powerful passion to connect with God had recently been overwhelming enough that he had sheepishly asked friends and acquaintances what they thought about prayer. The answers he got were varied and confusing. Some insisted that prayer should be silent while others argued that praying out loud was more effectual. He was assured by one man that prayers were simply to be spoken out of duty and, by another, that repetition was the key to satisfaction in prayer. Well-meaning Christians advised him to pray in faith, pray in the Spirit, speak to mountains, and intercede. The maze was endless!
As another wave of emotion flooded his soul, he heard himself blubbering “God I just want to feel connected to you. How do I do that? Should I hum, or chant, or repeat sacred phrases? Is prayer an incantation, a ritual, or a mandatory duty?” Suddenly he sensed something very special – like the chill that swept over him whenever the flag passed by. As he wiped the tears from his eyes it dawned on him that he had a deep sense of warmth and peace. It was almost as if someone was in the room with him and was speaking to him. It wasn’t an audible sound; it was more like a loud thought. One word was ringing in his mind. It was all he could think about for a few minutes. Over and over in his mind it tumbled: “dynamic.. dynamic..dynamic.” Was God trying to say something?
Being an educator it was only natural that he should reference the nearest dictionary. As he typed out the online query and pressed “enter” he pondered, “What in the world could the word “dynamic” have to do with prayer?” The screen flickered and his eyes scanned the following entry:
dy·nam·ic (d -n m k) adj.
1. Of or relating to energy or to objects in motion.
2. Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress.
3. Marked by intensity and vigor; forceful.
4. Of or relating to variation of intensity, as in musical sound. (Dictionary.com)
There it was! Prayer is not to be a ritual or a somber reading of scripted verses penned by the monks of yesteryear. Prayer should be a lively, energetic, conversation with our Maker. It should be moving, intense, and vigorous. It should be a continuously changing interaction with our Heavenly Father that varies in intensity and purpose; an adventure. Prayer should be our daily staff meeting with the God who has promised to order our steps, provide for our daily needs, and make a path for us in the wilderness.
Dare he hope for such a possibility? Could this new understanding be the start of a new excursion into God’s world? Was he about to step into corridors and conversations that would lead him to a prayer life of immeasurable expanse and variety? I certainly hope so, because no other endeavor is so powerful, so life-changing, and so fulfilling. Nobody lives a life more exciting than the life of a prayer warrior. Perhaps you can relate to the man in this story. Or maybe you have embarked on a journey of prayer and have experienced the dynamics of communicating with your Creator and Savior, but are not quite sure where to go from here. Many faithful prayer warriors encounter seasons in their prayer life when they run out of things to say, lose the motivation to pray, get stuck in a prayer rut, or sense that God is wanting to take their prayer time to a more dynamic level. How’s your prayer life? Maybe God wants to take you to a whole new dimension. Just follow your hunger.
This article has become the first chapter of the book Passageways of Prayer which can be purchased at "Inspirations" bookstore.
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